The King and Queen of Spain, accompanied by the Minister of Education, Culture and Sport, José Ignacio Wert, have presented the 2013 Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts at the Royal Palace of El Pardo. This award is granted by the Board of Ministers at the motion of the Minister of Education, Culture and Sports, to people and entities who have excelled in the field of artistic and cultural creation or who have provided valuable services to promote and develop art and culture or to conserve artistic heritage.
Patricia Phelps de Cisneros received this distinction for the art category because alongside her husband Gustavo Cisneros, she is the founder of the Cisneros Foundation which has gone out of its way over recent decades to promote and support education and culture in Latin America. Since the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros collection, its founder has promoted the conservation, study, presentation and promotion of Ibero-American material culture, including everything from ethnographic objects to contemporary art. She also promotes excellence in the visual arts field.
